ILA Executive Board Determines Positions on Key Legislative Bills

February 12, 2014

At its February 7 meeting, the ILA Executive Board reviewed more than 50 library bills and determined the association's position on key bills. Legislators have several more weeks to file new bills, and many other bills relevant to the Illinois library community are likely to be introduced.

Both the ILA Public Policy Committee (PPC) and ILA Executive Board met last week, with their next meetings about a month away. In the interim, the ILA Quick Response Team will address any new bills requiring immediate attention. We will keep you informed through the ILA E-Newsletter.

STATE BUDGET

SUPPORT current full funding for the Illinois Secretary of State's public library per capita grants, and restore full funding to school library per capita, equalization, library system per capita and other library grant programs.

ILA INITIATIVES

SUPPORT Senate Bill 1941, Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (Senator John Mulroe and Rep. Elaine Nekritz) providing for the authentication and preservation of official government laws, rules, reports and decisions when produced solely in an electronic format.

SUPPORT Senate Bill 2926, FOIA and the Internet (Senator Daniel Biss andRep. Ann Williams) creating an incentive for government bodies to increase access to government documents through Internet posting, while assuring traditional production of FOIA requested documents.

LOCAL CONTROL

OPPOSE Senate Bill 2784, Mandatory Internet Filters (Senator Kwame Raoul) overruling local public library decisions on Internet access by imposing an unfunded mandate to limit access in a manner that clearly violates the First Amendment. Send your message of opposition to this bill using CapWiz. Compose your own message or use the existing message. It takes only a minute. Enter your name and address and press send. Please do it now by clicking here and following the State Legislative link "Illinois - Filtering Legislation Proposed Again." Thank you!

LOCAL LIBRARY PROPERTY TAX REVENUES AND COSTS

OPPOSE legislation that will reduce existing local property tax revenues, increase local library costs, or interfere with the independence of local library trustees and administrators.

(Click on See All Current Legislation at the bottom in the very small type for the full listing including ILA's positions.) The ILA website also includes a link to the full text of every bill, the bill's status, and information about the bill's sponsor(s). The website will be continually updated as additional bills are filed, amended, and reviewed.

ILA will continue to monitor and inform the Illinois library community of any developments in the Illinois General Assembly impacting libraries and our key concerns. Most importantly, we will call upon you to take action at the appropriate time. Thank you for interest and support